General Tips - Scale Speeds
People have different ideas about what is the correct speed to run model trains. There is a simple rule of thumb I use to estimate the speed, assuming that time and sounds are passing at a scale of 1:1. It works for any country, any scale, from full size (watching railway films) to any standard gauge modelling scale.
All you do is time a train passing a convenient lineside object, either ignoring the loco or counting it as a coach. Count the seconds using a watch or the old trick of "a thousand and one, a thousand and two, etc." For the older British coach types (most pre-BR and BR Mk1), one coach per second means 40 miles per hour. If a six coach train passes in four seconds (ignoring the loco), it is traveling at 60 mph, which is about right for full speed on a British steam-hauled main line. For longer modern coaches, use one coach per second as 50 miles per hour instead.
All you do is time a train passing a convenient lineside object, either ignoring the loco or counting it as a coach. Count the seconds using a watch or the old trick of "a thousand and one, a thousand and two, etc." For the older British coach types (most pre-BR and BR Mk1), one coach per second means 40 miles per hour. If a six coach train passes in four seconds (ignoring the loco), it is traveling at 60 mph, which is about right for full speed on a British steam-hauled main line. For longer modern coaches, use one coach per second as 50 miles per hour instead.